Two blogs in September!

I know the last one was titled August but I posted it in September, and here we are .....another one!
First some photos from some of our guests, Paul and Lorna

The bridge at Bergerac

Old Citroen van

St Emilion

.Another visit from Vince, Julie, Steve and Joy...

Steve and Joy enjoying the fruits of their labour ( well, last year's labour!)

Hugh and Vince after a morning's grape picking at Domaine Gourdon

Vince and Julie enjoying a vineyard lunch

Lunch - thanks Lesley

We three........!

The pips and stalks

The grapes without pips and stalks

One bunch of grapes on our very own vine

We had lovely weather for another canoeing trip....

post picnic, pre canoeing

Nicole, 'busy' painting her nails, in the hammock

Nicole gave up her place in the hammock to Adam...or is she about to tip him out!?

And then this happened......

An amazing thunderstorm

with enormous hailstones

The weather has improved again since then with some lovely weather, enjoyed by our guests

Liz and Mike - it was lovely to see you again - hope to see you again soon.

Another of our guests wrote this poem for us .....thanks Mike...

Poem by Mike Shires

And finally - a blog wouldn't be the same without a wildlife photo! 

A wasp spider - again, this time clearly showing the stablimentum

"Wasp spiders build an orb web with a vertical zigzag pattern of silk in it called a stabilimentum. The purpose of the stabilimentum is unclear but it is thought that it helps attract insects. Previous theories have suggested that the stabilimentum makes the web more stable or deters birds flying through the large webs". BBC science and nature

August

I know that the title of this post is August and that it is actually a fair way into September now -but you know how it is......!
I'm starting this post with the picture of the summer - thanks to Anthony and Julie at Yours Truly Photography.

Head of infrastructure and marketing, hard at work!

Much bigger than Hugh's!

Well it has been too hot to paint the shutters!

... in the shade! 

We've had plenty of visitors, including friends to go canoeing with.....

Sue and Nicky on the Dordogne

 eat and drink with......

Sean, Adrian, Nicky and Sue at the  Restaurant Ô XIII Clochers at Monteton

to visit the Fete du Vignerons at Duras with....

Lynne and Les at Duras Chateau

Julie and Kate, sharing Kate's GCSE results celebrations with us

Anthony sharing too much with us!

  Nicole is back for a couple of weeks, she has been helping of course....

Nicole testing the outside furniture....

and checking the hammock....

She had done her bit stacking logs first!

beautifully arranged!

We (that is Nicole and I) spent a lovely couple of days, camping on the Ile de Ré

That's right - camping!

..and cycling - 30kms in one day I'll have you know!

and a quick lunch on the way back in La Rochelle

 Sights around Vue de Duras over the summer...

early morning hot air balloon over the chateau

August's 'blue moon'...

Duras has been busy with Fairs, Festivals and Night Markets

Musicians at the Medieval Fair

and fire display

  We're now into the beginning of September and they are collecting the plums...

 And the usual round up of various wildlife...

Heron on the Dordogne while canoeing

Too much music for the little tree frog (thank you Chris, Sara, Sandy and Mike for the frog on the right

The toad who makes a nightly patrol of the terrace keeping down the population of  creepy crawlies.

Blue carpenter bee (non aggressive and doesn't sting!)

A wasp spider. Beautiful and not at all dangerous.